Hundreds of hotels open their doors each year, but how many open your eyes? Travel Leisure's Guide to the best new hotels showcases the newcomers that are redefining service and design -- and even the way we travel.

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Bowery Hotel, New York City

Two stylish hoteliers breathe new life into Manhattan's once desolate Bowery.

Location: Gotham's former Skid Row is now home to luxury apartments and, since February, the 135-room Bowery Hotel. A dazzling new building for the New Museum of Contemporary Art is opening a few blocks away later this year.

Pedigree: Brought to you by Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode, known for Manhattan restaurants and a hotel (the Maritime) with serious staying power.

Style Design: Entering the lobby is like stepping into a pre-Raphaelite painting: a Gothic fireplace, Oriental rugs over a Moroccan-tile floor. Rooms are pure vintage-repro, down to the patinated fittings on the marble washstands.

Service Amenities: Guest quarters have complimentary Wi-Fi, and toiletries from the storied Bigelow & Co. Apothecary. Those expecting a dose of New York attitude will be disappointed by the solicitous, uniformly friendly staff. At press time, an Italian restaurant is in the works. No fitness center, though.

Rooms to Book: Ask for one of the seven rooms with private terraces found on floors six, seven, and fourteen; all seven feature outdoor showers. For a truly spectacular view, request a room that overlooks the rooftops of the East Village and the Lower East Side.